April 30, 2009

'Rock 'n' Roll' and the songs that changed the world

When people talk about "important" rock songs, some obvious candidates come to mind:

Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

John Lennon's "Imagine"

Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."

But the music-making world-changers of Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," which begins previews Saturday and officially opens May 11 at the Goodman Theatre, are artists who bubbled resolutely beneath the mainstream, such as the Velvet Underground and the Plastic People of the Universe.

The latter group, which took its name from a Frank Zappa song and which was heavily influenced by the Velvets, is almost completely unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Yet in its native Czechoslovakia, it helped bring about Communism's downfall.

Spurred by the Plastic People's 1976 arrest after a countercultural show, playwright and future Czech president Vaclav Havel co-authored "Charter 77," a manifesto of the anti-Communist movement behind the so-called Velvet Revolution of late 1989. Not only do some theorize that the Velvet Revolution got its name from the similarly named band, but Havel reportedly told Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed, "Because of you, I am president."

At any rate, Stoppard’s acclaimed play comes with its own eclectic, built-in playlist: three decades of songs driving a story that incorporates an unreformed Czech communist living in Cambridge, England, after the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia; his music-loving protege who bounces between Cambridge and Prague; and a young woman inspired and haunted by the beatific image of drug-addled visionary Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd tooling around Cambridge.

As usual, Stoppard has many metaphors at work: the contrast between the young, pie-eyed Barrett and his older, lost self (as well as his cynical-minded ex-bandmates) offering an allegory on communism while the Rolling Stones’ progression from the ’60s to the ’90s tells a tale of capitalism.

But let’s stick to the music itself, because the playwright clearly understands its transformative power. There’s an intriguing question here:

Which rock songs truly have changed the world?

Did the Beatles teach everyone that "All You Need Is Love"?

Did the will.i.am-led "Yes We Can" video pave the way for Barack Obama's election?

Was Aretha Franklin's demand for "Respect" answered in the affirmative?

“Rock ‘n’ Roll” director Charles Newell singled out “More Trouble Every Day,” a song that Zappa wrote for the first Mothers of Invention album, “Freak Out!”, and rerecorded throughout his career.

“If you listen to it today, it is astonishingly prescient,” said Newell, a Zappa freak himself, as he noted its influence on the Plastic People and other groups.

Let’s open this up to the rest of you. Lay ‘em on us: the songs that changed the world.

Comments

people aren't getting it.

I'm going to say ELVIS , especially Elvis on TV -1956- made R & R huge worldwide-
the 'transitive force' of Elvis making R & R legitimate to a worldwide audience ( not as the originator, or 1st artist, but opening the door to acceptance of R & R in general)

I think the song that's changed the world the most would be 'Give Peace A Chance' by John Lennon. It didn't just change the music world, it inspired people all over to end war. You can sort of compare it to 'We Shall Overcome' for the civil rights movement.

Maybe not changed the world. But many albums and songs have revolutionized rock and roll, in different aspects. We have to recognize "Led Zeppelin I". Because without this album, there would be no such thing as hard rock. Grand Funk Railroad's "Red Album" Revolutionized live recording. Recorded in just 4 or 5 days it is an amazing album for doing it live. Also, Pink Floyd's "The Wall" was one of the first albums to be set to a movie. .38 Special utilized having two drummers in their band, and the Rolling Stones showed rock and roll through the 1960s into the 1970s. The Beatles' early music brought in the British invasion. And abroad a band that never really got rooted in America but hosted such guitarists as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck was the Yardbirds. Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth" followed suit in 1960's anti-Vietnam songs. But songs that changed the world are songs like, "Born To Run" by Bruce Springsteen, U2's "One" or "Where the Streets Have No Name", or the Beatle's "Come Together".

Cautionary: Saw Stoppard's play Rock 'n Roll last night in Houston. Just be aware that it is not in any sense of the word a 'concert' of world-changing songs. It is an intense, difficult play, interspersed with a few bars of some memorable music. Our expectations reaped a sense of disappointment; trying to help readers avoid that sentiment. If you understand this going in, you may appreciate the play on its own merit.

The Who's My Generation. While the Beatles sang about love and the Rolling Stones sang about sex, the Who were singing about how they couldn't find either and they were p***ed off. That anger fueled the crashing of their instruments at the culmination of My Generation. Joey Ramone called the Who, their generation's punk rockers. They played rock 'n roll like no one else did in the mid '60s. And their sound lives on in today's rock.

I consider Thomas Mapfumo's "Hokoyo!" the classic example of the risks inherent in holding up a song and claiming it changed the world.

1980 -- The resistance to white-minority rule that "Hokoyo!" helped inspire triumphs and President Robert Mugabe takes over. Hooray! A triumph of the popular human spirit in a song!

2009 --The resistance to white-minority rule that "Hokoyo!" helped inspire still triumphs and behind the scenes President Mugabe continues his horrendous, blood-soaked tyranny. Damn. Is that a black mark against Mapfumo or not? Sure he changed his mind, and even got chased out of the country himself.

But still.

Maybe songs that change the world should be drawn from those written long ago and far away.

Let, not name one song... Just say The Beatles and Elvis. Each of them changed the world by their music and presence. Without Elvis we would not have Rock & Roll as we know it, and without the Beatles, the Sixties would have never happened the way that they did. Social conciousness and the protest movement got its start from The Beatles influence on the world.

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